Definitions
Freshwater refers to non-marine waters found on the landscape, including flowing (rivers, streams, canals), non-flowing (lakes, ponds, wetlands), and groundwater systems (Gurnell et al. 2016). Ecosystem refers to the physical (e.g., fluvial geomorphology, hydrology) and biological processes and constituents (e.g., plants, macroinvertebrates, fish) taken together as an interacting system (Wohl 2014). Freshwater ecosystems are thus the physical and biological processes and constituents that are formed from and found in non-marine waters on the landscape. The breadth of the term, incorporating both physical and biological processes and forms, recognizes the interactive manner in which such processes and forms interact within freshwater systems, both spatially and temporally (National Research Council 2007).
Introduction
Wending its way atop, within, and below the surface landscape, freshwater plays a fundamental role in maintaining life on land while also creating and...
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Lacy, S.N. (2020). Freshwater Ecosystems: A Foundation for Life on Land. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Life on Land. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_75-1
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